English approximations are in some cases very loose, and only intended to give a general idea of the pronunciation. See Haitian Creole phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Haitian Creole.

Notes

There are no silent letters in Haitian creole, unless it is being written with the traditional orthography.

All sounds are always spelled the same, except when a vowel carries a grave accent ⟨`⟩ before ⟨n⟩, which makes it an open vowel instead of a nasal vowel (e.g. ⟨en⟩ for /ɛ̃/ and ⟨èn⟩ for /ɛn/; ⟨on⟩ = /ɔ̃/, but ⟨òn⟩ = /ɔn/; <an> = /ã/, but <àn> = /an/).

When immediately followed by a vowel in a word, the letters forming the nasal vowels (an, en, on, oun) are to be pronounced separately.

↑ 1.01.1The contrast between /ɣ/ and /w/ is lost before rounded vowels; the two phonemes merge as /w/ in that environment. Some orthographies of Haitian Creole follow the etymology of the word, using ‹r› for /w/ before a rounded vowel where this comes from an original /ɣ/, e.g. gro/ɡwo/ "big" (cf. French gros/ɡʁo/). The official orthography follows the modern pronunciation of the word and uses ‹w› for /w/ in all cases, so that /ɡwo/ is spelled ‹gwo›.